In this guide
💡 The Short Version: The railway reaches the Costa Brava only at Blanes: the R1 from Plaça de Catalunya takes 1 hour 22, every 30 minutes, and the last train back leaves Blanes at 21:53 on weekdays. Tossa de Mar, the walled town most visitors come for, has no station; Moventis Sarfa buses run there from Barcelona’s Estació del Nord. Or book a tour: it saves you the change from train to bus and fits Tossa, a cove and lunch into one day. The Costa Brava tour with lunchad runs all year, from £88.71; the cheaper tour with a boat tripad, from £48.85, runs May to September only; the kayak trips run from April to October.
Getting there on your own
R1 from Barcelona-Plaça de Catalunya to Blanes · 1 hour 22 · every 30 minutes
Rodalies line R1 runs up the coast from Plaça de Catalunya to Blanes, at the southern end of the Costa Brava. On a weekday in October 2026 there were 35 trains each way: the first leaves Plaça de Catalunya at 6:00, and the last back leaves Blanes at 21:53, taking 1 hour 19 to 1 hour 22 (Renfe timetable, Tuesday 6 October 2026). On Saturdays there are 33, with the same last train back.
- Blanes station is inland, about 1.9 km in a straight line from the seafront.
- For Tossa de Mar, the town’s tourist office lists Moventis Sarfa buses from Barcelona’s Estació del Nord (Plaça d’Alí Bei 80) and from the airport, and in summer from Ronda de Sant Pere (visittossa.com, 30 September 2026).
- Lloret de Mar, between the two, has no station either.
Tours from Barcelona
Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” price on 30 September 2026; the seasons are the dates each tour’s calendar showed that day.
Costa Brava with lunch, all year
From £88.71 · 4.8 stars from 1,223 reviews · 10 hours · runs all year
From Barcelona: Costa Brava Day Tour with Lunchad drives up the coast to a cove for a swim or the botanical gardens in Blanes, then a home-cooked lunch with sangria in a family-run restaurant, then Tossa de Mar: the walk up to the lighthouse and the old town, with free time for the beach. It and the Montserrat, Girona and Costa Brava tour below are the two here with dates in every month of the year.
Lloret and Tossa by boat, May to September
From £48.85 · 4.8 stars from 1,525 reviews · 9 hours · next dates from 1 May 2027
From Barcelona: Costa Brava Day Tour with Boat Tripad leaves from Barcelona’s Estació del Nord by coach for Lloret de Mar, then takes a one-hour boat along the cliffs to Tossa de Mar for a guided visit and free time for lunch. The boat ticket and the Tossa tour are included.
Kayak, snorkel and cliff jumps
From £72.85 · 4.9 stars from 3,145 reviews · 8 hours · October, then April to September
Costa Brava Tour: Kayak, Snorkelling & Cliff Jump from Barcelonaad is for swimmers only: two to three hours of kayaking and snorkelling along the cliffs, with optional low cliff jumps, a sandwich lunch on the beach and a coach of about 75 minutes each way. A wetsuit is provided in the cooler months. The S’Agaró Bay kayak and snorkel tripad (from £67.71, 4.9 stars from 602 reviews, 10 hours) runs October and April to August.
Montserrat, Girona and the Costa Brava in one day
From £56.56 · 4.8 stars from 1,963 reviews · 11½ hours · runs all year
Barcelona: Montserrat, Girona & Costa Brava Guided Day Tripad does the monastery, Girona’s old town and a coastal stop at Tossa de Mar in one long day, for a short stay with no spare day.
Tossa de Mar
No station · Moventis Sarfa bus from Barcelona, or a tour · the Vila Vella is free to walk
The walled Vila Vella, Tossa’s old town, was built in the early 13th century against pirate raids and listed as a monument in 1931. The tourist office calls it the only fortified medieval town left on the Catalan coast (visittossa.com, 30 September 2026). Its walls keep four large towers and three round ones, among them the Joanàs Tower over the bay and the Clock Tower at the entrance; inside are cobbled lanes, the ruined 15th-century church of Sant Vicenç and, at the top, the lighthouse on the site of the old castle.
The Vila Vella of Tossa de Mar above the main beach. Photo: JopkeB, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Lloret de Mar
Between Blanes and Tossa · no station · Santa Clotilde Gardens €6.10
A resort town between Blanes and Tossa, and the starting point for the boat along the cliffs to Tossa. The Santa Clotilde Gardens, laid out from 1919 by the landscape architect Nicolau Rubió i Tudurí, stand on a cliff between Cala Boadella and Fenals beach. They open daily from 10:00: to 20:00 from April to October, to 17:00 from November to January and to 18:00 in February and March, with last entry an hour before closing; closed 25 December and 1 and 6 January. Adults €6.10.
The Santa Clotilde Gardens in Lloret de Mar, looking to the sea. Photo: José Luis Filpo Cabana, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
GetYourGuide sells a round-trip ferry from Lloret to Tossaad (from £28.28, 4.6 stars from 687 reviews); its calendar ran to 27 October 2026.
Blanes, by train
R1 terminus · Marimurtra Botanical Garden 9:30–17:00, €10 in winter, €15 in spring, summer and autumn
The one Costa Brava town the train reaches. The Marimurtra Botanical Garden, created by the German businessman Carl Faust, sits on the cliffs above the sea with mostly exotic plants. General admission is €10 in winter and €15 in spring, summer and autumn (€14 in advance), or €10 after 14:00; the hours on 30 September 2026 were 9:30 to 17:00. It is about 2.8 km in a straight line from the station; the tourist train from Plaça Catalunya in Blanes stops at the garden gate.
The cactus garden at Marimurtra Botanical Garden in Blanes. Photo: muffinn, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
When to go
- May to September: the boat trip and the kayak tours run, as well as the all-year tours.
- October and April: the kayak trips run; the boat tour does not.
- November to March: the tour with lunch and the Montserrat, Girona and Costa Brava day trip are the ones with dates.
The Costa Brava is one of several day trips from Barcelona; Girona and Figueres are on the same side of Catalonia, further inland, and Montserrat is the other trip with an all-year tour. For the sights to book back in the city, see what to book before you go in Barcelona.
Common questions
Can you do a Costa Brava day trip from Barcelona by train?
Only as far as Blanes, where the Costa Brava begins: the R1 from Plaça de Catalunya takes 1 hour 22, every 30 minutes, and the last train back leaves Blanes at 21:53 on weekdays. Tossa de Mar and Lloret de Mar have no station; Tossa is reached by Moventis Sarfa bus from Barcelona's Estació del Nord, or on a tour.
What is the best Costa Brava day trip from Barcelona?
Outside summer, the Costa Brava tour with lunch is the one that runs all year: from £88.71 on GetYourGuide on 30 September 2026, with a cove, the botanical gardens in Blanes, lunch and Tossa de Mar. From May to September the cheaper tour with a boat trip from Lloret to Tossa runs, from £48.85.
Is Tossa de Mar worth visiting?
Its walled old town, the Vila Vella, dates from the early 13th century and has kept most of its walls and towers; Tossa's tourist office calls it the only fortified medieval town left on the Catalan coast. Most of the Costa Brava coach tours from Barcelona stop there.
